Good Fan Brands

[Wester547]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I don't know if I'd consider ADDA sleeve bearings good without being preemptively lubed - they slow down and soon after seize fairly quickly even by comparison to other decent fan makes. Of course, this is if they aren't lubricated well enough. But I do like my experience with AVC. I've had even a one ball and one sleeve fan from them last many years running at full speed, though at the end of its tenure it eventually made a clicking sound now and then. I had a sleeve bearing from them last 20,000 hours and 3,000 power cycles of running at half speed (and sometimes full speed) and it's still blowing as much air as it always did so I'm sure it's still full of oil. I haven't heard pleasantries about their hydraulic fans but the one I had did okay, though it spent all its life at 35%-40% speed so that may be why (and it had a similar amount of power on hours).

I've always heard Yate Loon fans have poor static air pressure - maybe that's why it isn't listed on their websites, but others claim it's good.

[momaka]

Re: Good Fan Brands

When I spin it with my fingers I don't hear clicking but if I put my ear next to it I do hear that it does not sound like it's "smoothly" spinning but intermittently stopping, almost.

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant by "clicking". It's not exactly clicking, but I wasn't sure what else to call it. But yes, when I hear/feel fans make such noise when I turn them by hand, I know they will be at least somewhat loud. I think it does indeed have a lot to do with the magnet strength. After all, if the magnet is stronger, the fan is usually also high speed. Cheap fans with weak magnets tend to be low speed in my observation.

I never once noticed clicking sounds coming from any Delta fan I have, though they are very loud - both the pair of 70x70x25 high speed "Superflo" ones in the Xbox 360 (or the single 92x92x25 one in the newer versions) and the ones I've found in PCs.

Those Xbox 360 fans are very loud indeed. But they are quite strong too. I tried one at 5V, and even then you can loudly hear the motor "soft-click".

... which leads me to, on a slightly unrelated note, say that if ADDA fans have any advantage over their competition it's that they're very silent if temperature controlled (though they too do not sound like they're spinning that smoothly in my experience, but they are whisper quiet if temperature controlled).

Sleeve bearing fans are quiet in general. The difference between the "good" and the "okay" sleeve bearing fans IMO is the max speed that they can achieve. Many 80 mm generic sleeve bearing fans, for example, tend to max out at about 0.18A and usually don't run very fast. The more decent ones are able to achieve higher speeds. Obviously, sleeve bearing fans from the good brands (i.e. Nidec, NMB, Delta, etc.) will be able to spin at high speeds. They still do tend to be noisier, though.

Then there's the decent brands such as ADDA, Yate Loon, Protechnic, Supperred, Top Motor, Globe Fan, and PowerLogic (and maybe a few others I missed) - those aren't as high speed as the good brands, but they are damn quiet for the amount of air they push.

Finally, there's the cheap generic tier - Te-Bao, Rulian Science, CBE, and many others. Those may or may not be quiet (depending on how well their rotor is balanced, as Behemot mentioned), but one thing is certain for these - they don't have a lot of strength to push much air.

[Behemot]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Well basicaly every sleeve bearing fan is quiet in principle unless you make it bad (like, bad geometry, stator not holding position and rubbing against something on stator and so). The problem is, many generic manufacturers make it bad

Uh, the first should be rotor

[budm]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I use SUNON MAGLEV fans.
http://www.sunonusa.com/index2.asp?f...ology&p=maglev

[Behemot]

Re: Good Fan Brands

BI've also found Zalman fans good - Enermax also seem okay. As for JMC/Datech fans vs. NMB/Minebea fans, I've seen quite a few JMC/Datech fans of the same size have higher specs so it would be interesting to see if they still ultimately pushed less air than the NMB ones, but then that also may depend upon thickness of blades as there are thin and thick variations of fans from both manufactures.

Well basicaly every sleeve bearing fan is quiet in principle unless you make it bad (like, bad geometry, stator not holding position and rubbing against something on stator and so). The problem is, many generic manufacturers make it bad

[japlytic]

Re: Good Fan Brands

My favourite is what Intel uses for "retail" boxed CPUs, Sanyo Denki.

[Wester547]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Behemot said this earlier in the thread, which may expand upon why Delta fans have "clicking" problems:

The newer Delta fans are very good, the older ones use bad bearings and springs which causes vibrations

That doesn't change how loud Delta fans are, though. :P I've also found Zalman fans good - Enermax also seem okay. As for JMC/Datech fans vs. NMB/Minebea fans, I've seen quite a few JMC/Datech fans of the same size have higher specs so it would be interesting to see if they still ultimately pushed less air than the NMB ones, but then that also may depend upon thickness of blades as there are thin and thick variations of fans from both manufactures.

[Agent24]

Re: Good Fan Brands

This is why I like fans with RPM readout, so you know if it fails.

[Wester547]

Re: Good Fan Brands

In my experience, Sunon fans have been very good. None of that noise people complain about. Delta, on the other hand is very loud. Every Delta I've seen makes a really loud clicking noise regardless of speed. You can even feel/hear it when you spin the fan by hand, if you know what I mean. Perhaps their magnets are too strong??? Sometimes this is exactly why I prefer cheaper fans - seems like they have weak magnets and that's why they click much less. They may be slower, but in my experience at least, even at full speed (usually comparable to half speed or less on Delta fans) they are still much more quiet than Delta.

I never once noticed clicking sounds coming from any Delta fan I have, though they are very loud - both the pair of 70x70x25 high speed "Superflo" ones in the Xbox 360 (or the single 92x92x25 one in the newer versions) and the ones I've found in PCs. Right now, I'm holding an ASB0812HH (high speed 80x80x25 sleeve bearing from Delta rated at 12V~0.30A, made in Thailand, from 2000), which came out of a Newton Power 200W whose date code is August 10th of 2000. When I spin it with my fingers I don't hear clicking but if I put my ear next to it I do hear that it does not sound like it's "smoothly" spinning but intermittently stopping, almost. However, the PC that PSU came out of was loud, probably because of that fan and the Minebea 92x92x25mm fan that was in it in tandem. But I think that PC was too loud for me to notice any clicking, which leads me to, on a slightly unrelated note, say that if ADDA fans have any advantage over their competition it's that they're very silent if temperature controlled (though they too do not sound like they're spinning that smoothly in my experience, but they are whisper quiet if temperature controlled).

Besides, pretty much all of my computers are trash-picked old stuff, so I don't really care if one dies. So far the bastards are holding up, though!

I could be wrong, but not trash in comparison to today's "modern" computers.

[Behemot]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I have experienced strange noises usually with fans which have springs inside (to push rotor further from stator). Usually the more I mess with them, the worse sounds they produce And Delta have usually 1 or 2 springs at least.

[momaka]

Re: Good Fan Brands

In my experience, Sunon fans have been very good. None of that noise people complain about. Delta, on the other hand is very loud. Every Delta I've seen makes a really loud clicking noise regardless of speed. You can even feel/hear it when you spin the fan by hand, if you know what I mean. Perhaps their magnets are too strong??? Sometimes this is exactly why I prefer cheaper fans - seems like they have weak magnets and that's why they click much less. They may be slower, but in my experience at least, even at full speed (usually comparable to half speed or less on Delta fans) they are still much more quiet than Delta.

That aside, Delta fans do last quite a bit. For me, that's not too important, though. Once relubed, even the cheap fans seem to go forever. Besides, pretty much all of my computers are trash-picked old stuff, so I don't really care if one dies. So far the bastards are holding up, though!

[Behemot]

Re: Good Fan Brands

Sunon uses fluid bearings I think too. They may not mark it as this (cause it basically is a type of sleeve bearing), but they are, thats why they last longer. Delta definitelly does s they don't mention it almost anywhere.

But I noticed many of the small Sunons are factory-closed such way you can't open it without destroying it, so once it passes away, nothing can be done.

[lti]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I have an Adda sleeve bearing fan that had oil in it from the factory.

I also have an old Minebea branded (not NMB) fan that is noisy because the bearings are worn out. It was replaced by a Sunon DR-Maglev fan, which moves more air at the same noise level (without any bearing noise) and has a normal amount of vibration. I don't know how long that Sunon fan will last, but I expected the Minebea fan to last longer. The Minebea fan was also extremely loud (even before the bearings became noisy) and didn't move very much air. It sounded like it was spinning at about 5000RPM when it wasn't spinning fast enough to move any air at all.

The Sunon fans I have seen that vibrated had the shaft placed in the blade assembly off-center.

The Sunon Maglev fan in my old HP laptop was supposed to have dual ball bearings according to its part number, but it had one ball bearing and one sleeve bearing with no lubricant at all.

[Wester547]

Re: Good Fan Brands

My guess is that those sleeve bearing fans were not lubricated well from the factory so they seized prematurely.

A little long in the tooth, but....

FYI: "NMB Technologies Corporation, a manufacturer of computer fans and subsidiary of Minebea that is managed by NMB USA Incorporated" culled from wiki links. They value quality and does not have presence in china when I pored over their main website.

Every Minebea fan I've seen (NMB, not NMB-MAT) says it's "Made in China". But in so saying that, it does not make NMB seem questionable in quality - they are one of the best makes. I too saw on their website that they have a protruding presence in Japan and the US - not as much in China and Taiwan. As far as airflow itself goes, Sunon impress upon me very well for the amount of airflow they deliver even in their smaller (60mm and below) fans. They have a "punch" in pushing air that I don't think other fans have, at least not without going up higher in size, thickness of blades, CFM, and static pressure (though good makes do deliver well in airflow). However, as Wizard has pointed before, by way of patent design (wafer), some Sunon fans rattle and vibrate profusely, so much so that their magnetic impulses are harsh (they do not give allowance for straight magnetic impulses) and their bearing assembly is somewhat loose. I have noticed this has a tendency of making the whole case and its components rattle slightly if, say, the power supply fan is an 80mm Sunon (especially of the high speed variety, even when temperature controlled). Some may not like that - I know I don't.

But I noticed in the Sunon datasheets that their sleeve bearings are specified as "lubricated sleeve bearing system" - I saw no mention of lubrication in ADDA datasheets, so that might explain why Sunon fans (at least, in my experience) last longer than at least some exceptionally flaccid sleeve bearing fans. I've also always wondered how well Maglev fans from Sunon (Vapo or Dust-Resistant) fair - I've heard of a notable amount of failures from them but Sunon claim that the fan is sustained by magnetic levitation rather than any sort of lubricant (oil), unless that's misinformation. As far as sheer reliability and longevity goes, you're probably better off with the above mentioned: NMB, Sanyo-Denki, Nidec, Delta, and maybe a few select others. My experience with Magic Protechnic (and/or Protechnic Electric) fans has also been good. If you can (unless you're willing to lubricate fans yourself), I would recommend reaching avoidance of one ball/one sleeve and plain sleeve bearing fans and at least go for improved bearings if not dual ball bearings (though you'd have to be careful with them as they do not have fabulous shock resistance). Another thing to point out is that the smaller you go in size, the more likely high spec'd fans (as higher RPM becomes more necessary the lower you go) will not last as long (at least if they're not dual ball bearing, but I think even dual ball bearing fans might be more limited in lifespan if we're talking about very thin 45x45x10 fans, for an example, though I might be wrong on that). Fluid dynamic bearing fans would be alright too but they are expensive and need to be spun at high RPMs to last long (noise and dust).

Another thing I would like to point out is that good sleeve bearing fans will probably last longer than bad dual ball bearing fans (JMC/Datech come to mind - I've had Sunon sleeve bearings last longer than JMC/Datech "dual" ball bearing fans).

[CuriousD]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I just found some fans completely seized, the brands are: T&T, Icy Dock, and one that just says "Sleeve bearing" out of an L&C

[ratdude747]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I have both JMC datech & NMB fans. NMB is much better quality overall. The JMC datech is not good quality.

FYI: "NMB Technologies Corporation, a manufacturer of computer fans and subsidiary of Minebea that is managed by NMB USA Incorporated" culled from wiki links. They value quality and does not have presence in china when I pored over their main website.

JMC Datech manufactures their fans in china. Pointedly in their website.

This is why I do not list these in my list of good fans. Tight, no wobble, spin smoothly when running (no hum feel or rattle) are signs of good balance, tighter tolerances and quality materials are my criteria when obtaining fans.

Sunon fans buzzes and rattle due to their unique patented bobbin motor design. Their bobbin motor design does not permit straight magnetic impulses to the rotor causing rotor to rock, hence the buzz/vibration. I had disassembled it to find the reason. Vibration can transmit through case and heard. The poles plates is 90 deg offset from other and is thru a steel tube for the bobbin windings.

I forgot to add: Noctua fans. This were carefully built for quietness and I have yet to obtain one.

Cheers, Wizard

not surprised. all the dell optiplex units i saw (full size) had thick nmb fans.

dimension- i have a 4600 with the thick nmb (still in use). i had a 2400 with thin datech, a 3000 with a thick datech, and a 2400 with a thin nmb. the nmb's stayed; the datech units were not working the best and were swapped for thick nmb's pulled from dead optiplexes.

[Wizard]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I have both JMC datech & NMB fans. NMB is much better quality overall. The JMC datech is not good quality.

FYI: "NMB Technologies Corporation, a manufacturer of computer fans and subsidiary of Minebea that is managed by NMB USA Incorporated" culled from wiki links. They value quality and does not have presence in china when I pored over their main website.

JMC Datech manufactures their fans in china. Pointedly in their website.

This is why I do not list these in my list of good fans. Tight, no wobble, spin smoothly when running (no hum feel or rattle) are signs of good balance, tighter tolerances and quality materials are my criteria when obtaining fans.

Sunon fans buzzes and rattle due to their unique patented bobbin motor design. Their bobbin motor design does not permit straight magnetic impulses to the rotor causing rotor to rock, hence the buzz/vibration. I had disassembled it to find the reason. Vibration can transmit through case and heard. The poles plates is 90 deg offset from other and is thru a steel tube for the bobbin windings.

I forgot to add: Noctua fans. This were carefully built for quietness and I have yet to obtain one.

Cheers, Wizard

[shovenose]

Re: Good Fan Brands

The only arx fan ive ever seen had a broken off fan blade

[c_hegge]

Re: Good Fan Brands

What about ARX fans (http://www.arx-group.com/) anyone heard of them? One of the fans in my main system is an ARX. I've also seen a couple of them in PSUs and graphics cards and RS components sell them

[shovenose]

Re: Good Fan Brands

I agree with 370 on that one